Automated loaders are commonly used to place material in packaging for storage, transport, or sale. For example, in a conventional poultry loader, a plastic bag is opened, sometimes by air and sometimes by mechanical means, such as a pair of horns. A whole dressed chicken is then pushed into the bag, sometimes manually, sometimes by gravity, sometimes by a ram. The bagged chicken is then sealed within the bag. Conventionally, the bag is clipped and the tail is severed. In some cases, prior to clipping, the air in the bag is evacuated. In other cases, the bag is shrunk by heat.
Chickens being bagged in this manner are not uniform in shape or size. A chicken sliding into a bag by gravity might turn as it slides. The placement of chickens in front of the ram is not necessarily uniform. Accordingly, a particular chicken may not stay on a straight line as it is pushed into the bag. If the chicken veers to one side as it is pushed into the bag, it might tear the bag, or it might not proceed entirely into the bag, leaving, for example, a leg sticking out of the bag, any of which situations cause a delay on the production line. Additionally, the chicken could turn sideways, and even if it is bagged, clipped, and sealed, the improper orientation will likely cause problems in transport and in marketing of the chicken.
The present invention addresses some of the problems of the prior art.